• Registered: 2005-03-12
  • Posts: 101

Topic: I Ran Aground - What Should I Look For?

I had the misfortune to run aground hard.  Dense fog, large swells, and a navigational error put me off course by about 150 yards.  In visibility of 50' I hit a nice piece of rock called the Lobster Claw, just off Sambro head in Nova Scotia.  We hit at about 5 kts, below the water line.  We were then lifted up by a big wave onto the rocks.  The boat lay on her side, waves crashed over, filled her cockpit and a couple of feet in the cabin.  We bounced around on the side for a bit then another big wave washed us off.  Not too cool with dad (aged 68), nephew (aged 16) and son (aged 3) aboard.  My son still talks about it - "we no get lost in fog again Daddy.  We no bash into rocks.  I don't want to be wet and cold again Daddy".  Needless to say this was quite traumatic but also an experience from which I learned many things.

Here's my question: We did not hole the boat.  Definitely there is cosmetic damage.  Any suggestions on how to look for structural damage?  Any recommendations on what to use to patch my gel coat?

  • From: Hamilton, Ontario CANADA
  • Registered: 2006-04-06
  • Posts: 148

Re: I Ran Aground - What Should I Look For?

and4ew,

stefan_d would be the best bet for that answer.  Just out of curiosity, were you using GPS or the traditional dead reckoning when you miscalculated your bearings?  Hope you're back in the water soon thereafter.  Best Regards.

José

jcfoto's Website

  • Registered: 2005-03-12
  • Posts: 101

Re: I Ran Aground - What Should I Look For?

I was using a GPS but made a serious error.  The Sambro channel (aka The Ledges) is a narrow, bouyed channel bordered by dangerous rocks.  I was sailing back to Halifax from Rogue's Roust.  After about an hour the fog rolled in.  I used my GPS to guide me along the channel.  My GPS does not have charts, just waypoints which I have added.  I have all the waypoints of the channel loaded.  I simply created a route that included all the waypoints and steered to that.

After a couple of hours we were all feeling quite sick.  Visibility was usually no more than two boat lengths.  Apart from feeling gross and taking a good pounding in the cross-swells we kept hitting the waypoints as expected and all was good.  Then our tender let go.  I quickly turned the boat around to retrieve it before we lost it in the fog.  It took a while to recover the tender and re-tie it.  We then proceeded in the direction of the next waypoint.  This is where I made my big mistake: we had drifted off course due to the swells and the tide.  With no reference point in the dense fog we didn't notice how far we were outside the channel.  It turns out we had drifted maybe two hundred yards.  Steering to the next waypoint does not mean that there's nothing in between.  We found out the hard way that there was a big pile of rocks just at water level. 

What I should have done was some of these:

- Used the MOB key and returned to where we were when the tender came loose
- Follwed a known safe track in my GPS
- Remembered to account for swells and tides
- Taken a GPS fix and plotted my exact position before proceeding

It's amazing how much motion sickness will adle the brain.  That's not an excuse for what happened but rather a reminder to not let mental slowness cause you to forget proper procedure.

When we we were over on our side ontop of the rocks I believed we were holed because of the huge amount of water sloshing around inside.  I radioed a mayday to the coast guard and told them I was abandoning.  When we were washed off the rocks and didn't seem to be taking on any more water I cancelled the mayday.  The coast guard arrived anyway as there is a small station only four nm away.  I learned radio procedure in my radio operator's course.  It not only teaches you how to communicate but also what you need to communicate.  Knowing I had to say position, situation, people, etc helped me remain calm.  I've heard of people who panic and scream giberish into the microphone while not letting the button release.  You don't want to be one of those.  Take the radio training, it's worth it.

  • From: Ottawa, On
  • Registered: 2005-03-10
  • Posts: 353

Re: I Ran Aground - What Should I Look For?

sorry to hear about your experience.  if theres a boat that you want to eb in, this is the boat.  just curious, is your boat a pre or post 1983.  the pre 1983's had a layup schedule thats nearly double the post 83's.

depending on how bad the boat got beat around and where, i'd think about hauling to check things out.  if it spend most of the time half upright, beating around on where you can't see at the dock then for sure.  if it was mostly on her side, then an inspection from the dinghy might suffice.  either way, i think i'd haul the boat.  but if your season is ending in a few weeks, then it could probably wait.   i'd look for the obvious - feel the hull for huge lumps, bumps, (these are kind of lumpy boats to begin with), gouges, etc.  there's over 1/4" of solid glass in my '74, so i mean thats kind of like a brick shithouse.  if you want, you can also get a soft faced hammer and tap test where you think ther emight be some damage, you'll feel the hammer go dead if you hit some delam or a void.    to be honest i'd look around for anything that jumps out at you thats not the same as before, but don't look too hard otherwise you'll just start second guessing ( i dont think that was like that, but i'm not sure, maybe, i dont know................)

check the rig out, where the chainplates come thru the deck, stemhead fitting, backstay tangs (the rig probably took a rough ride), look up the mast, see if it's still aiming where it used to etc.....    most importantly just keep an eye on that deeo bilge and at the first sign of water ingress then haul her.

ON another completely different note - check out the progress on Untold Want in teh gallery.  She's got a new COAT!

stefan_d's Website

5 Reply by and4ew (edited by and4ew 2007-09-07 14:06:26)

  • Registered: 2005-03-12
  • Posts: 101

Re: I Ran Aground - What Should I Look For?

Mine is also a 1974.  Hull #125.  Thanks for the good advice.  I didn't want to haul her out until the end of the season (meaning I didn't want to spend the $75, the time off work, etc).  I have access to dive gear so I was planning to do that and use my underwater camera.  If that is inconclusive I will definitely haul.  I usually leave her in a bubbler but had already decided to haul her this year.

I did sail her back from Sambro (about 5 hours) in stiff wind and even at 6.5 kts there was no wobbling or other weirdness.  The bilge is also very dry.  One thing I did notice is that the gel coat is scraped off so I can see light coming through the hull in a couple of places above the water line.  No sign of stress fractures around these areas though.  My interior was not built in the factory (in fact the boat appears to be completely home made inside complete with hockey sticks used for framing.  Completely different from the what yours looks like) so there are many places where it's easy to see the bare hull from the inside making inspection fairly easy.   I'm somewhat concerned about the keel but only because I can't see it.  Is there a place where it could seperate from the hull? 

Any advice on what to use to repair gel coat?  I know you can use gel coat but I also heard about some other options.

Thanks.

  • From: Ottawa, On
  • Registered: 2005-03-10
  • Posts: 353

Re: I Ran Aground - What Should I Look For?

unlike fin keel boats out there, there is no way for the keel to separate from the hull.  the hull is the keel, if you think about it.  the ballast is completely encapsulated inside the hull.  if you were to think of a keel as an appendage thats bolted underneath the hull, then the contessa doesn't have a keel, it's all hull.  if you were to think of a keel as a waterfoil shape that provides lateral resistance then the contessa has a keel.  but really it's all the hull.

i;d go over the gouges closely, making sure that they're not too deep, and looking for any major damage.  depending on how deep the gouges are, you'll fill them up with some filler perhaps (vc watertite sands easy and is great), leaving the scrath/gouge still a little concave - then you can fill the rest of the scratch with gelcoat that you have to mix up (getting the colour is the hard part) trying to keep the gelcote as flush or fair with the hull as you can.  depending on how full you get the scratches, you can wetsand (1000-1200) and then compound the repair and buff the hell out of it.  thats about it.  other than painting.  and trust me, after al lthat work i'd rather buff all day on gelcoat.

stefan_d's Website